PERC 2010 Abstract Detail Page

Kinesthetic activities are powerful tools for physics instruction. These activities require students to interpret a physical situation or concept with movement and postures - like acting out the motion of a particle based on a graph of its motion. They provide memorable classroom experiences and allow students to embody their conceptual physics knowledge. We will present kinesthetic activities that are used in junior level physics courses and lead a discussion about their implementation and affordances for student learning. In particular, we will discuss the relationship of these activities with sense-making, representational competence, spatial reasoning, and building a community of practice. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE 0618877.